Page 38 - 20090506 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - May / June 2009

38 Ghosts Among Us? 38 Ghosts Among Us? I Feel Your Pain: Fact Ghosts among us? I Feel Your Pain: Fact Ghosts among us? Hunting for spirits grows or Fiction Hunting for spirits grows or Fiction in popularity Continued From Page 37 in popularity Continued From Page 37 In a typical example, a mother was By Mollee Francisco writing a letter to her daughter, who had By Mollee Francisco recently gone away to college. For no obvious reason her right hand began to burn so severely Amidst the rich wood paneling and the she had to put down her pen. She received a floral wallpaper at Chaska’s Peacock Inn, some phone call less than an hour later informing her say a man sits quietly in a cream upholstered that her daughter's right hand had been severely chair on the landing of the stairs. And though burned by acid in a laboratory accident, at the many pass by him each day, few notice his same time that she, the mother, had felt the presence. Kathy Machowski is one of those few. looking for things that shouldn’t be there,” said burning pain. That’s because the man is not one of the Machowski. In another case, a woman suddenly living. He is a spirit and Machowski is a ghost That can include things like unexplained doubled over, clutching her chest in severe pain, hunter. levels of energy, random cold spots and saying, "Something has happened to Nell, she Machowski said she has had encounters anomalies on photographs. But ghost hunters has been hurt." Two hours later the sheriff with the paranormal since she was a little girl. also use their basic senses – listening for foot arrived to inform her that Nell, her daughter, Back then she didn’t seek out the encounters, steps or watching for mists and shadows. had been involved in an auto accident, and that but today, she is among a growing number of “Anyone can ghost hunt,” she said. “All a piece of the steering wheel had penetrated her people who do. you really need is a camera and a tape recorder.” chest. Machowski, who lives in Jordan, started Machowski noted that there are several These events occur in the context of Minnesota’s Beyond the Veil to gather a group places that are now opening their doors to emotional closeness, empathy, compassion, and of those who, like her, were interested in welcome ghost hunters. Bohn said she is love. They do not depend on physically seeing delving deeper into the possibility of ghosts and considering letting in classes provided her another individual, as the mirror neuron using equipment to investigate strange “spirits” aren’t disturbed. Bohn would like to hypothesis requires. occurrences in houses, churches, prisons, keep her friendly spirits in good spirits. This kind of remote, empathic knowing hospital and other older buildings. “I’ve been to places where you get hit is the sort of ability that a survival-oriented Buoyed by interest in television with a ‘Get out!’ but here you get a welcome organism might develop, because this ability programs like “Ghost Hunters” and feeling,” Machowski said, of the Peacock Inn. favors the physical survival of the person in “Paranormal State,” Machowski said her group Her group got a chance to experience some of need, and therefore procreation. This trait might is now busier than ever, fielding requests to the activity Bohn and her guests have talked eventually be incorporated as part of our genetic investigate possible paranormal activity and about. While going through the inn, the ghost endowment and passed down through lead ghost hunting classes. hunters picked up some high EMF readings on succeeding generations. How might it actually They recently visited the Peacock Inn a bed in one of the guest rooms. work? and Carver’s Treasure Chest Antiques after “Half of the bed had a high EMF and A host of hypotheses have been hearing that people at both businesses had been half didn’t,” said Machowski, noting that spikes advanced to explain these happenings, all witness to unexplained phenomena. can often be explained by electrical current, but proposing, in one way or another, new images “Ghosts are real,” said Machowski. “A adding, “I couldn’t find an explanation for that.” of the nature of consciousness, the nature of lot of people co-exist with ghosts and don’t They captured some photographic time, or extensions of the unity that are possibly even know it.” anomalies downstairs – several photos taken foreshadowed in concept of nonlocality in during the investigation feature strange crescent quantum mechanics. As I discuss in my recent Peacock Inn moon-like images in unexpected places. book The Power of Premonitions, these views “I’m not going to say it’s a ghost,” said have been proposed by eminent scientists, Joyce Bohn has been well-aware of Machowski. “But it’s interesting.” including Nobelists. No one knows which, if strange happenings at her business for years. The most exciting part of their any, of these hypotheses may eventually be Guests at the Peacock Inn, located in a investigation took place upstairs, Machowski validated. But what is certain is that we have historic mansion off of City Square Park, have said, where they experienced an unexplained vastly underestimated the extent of "the ties that told her about rocking chairs rocking empty and thump as if something had dropped. They also bind" us together through empathy, altruism, cats jumping up on their beds in the middle of report picking up EVPs (electronic voice and compassion, and which make us uniquely the night when there are no cats in the house. phenomena) on their tape recorders with a human. Flowers have fallen off of the wall for no good reason. And silverware has repeatedly gone man’s voice telling them there were two spirits Dr. Larry Dossey is the author of eleven books missing at meals only to later be found back in in the room and a little girl’s voice saying “yes” when asked if she liked the room. about the nature of consciousness and the role the drawer. Some of their findings didn’t make of spirituality in healthcare, most recently The “I’m a pretty logical person,” said Bohn. sense until after the crew had left though. Power of Premonitions (Dutton/Penguin, 2009). “But there are not logical explanations for everything.” During their investigation Kathy’s psychic in This spring, Joyce offered to open up the the group said she picked up on a man named inn to Minnesota’s Beyond the Veil to see what Arthur who kept telling her that the Peacock Inn they could uncover. was his house and that he greeted people. Later, Using standard ghost-hunting Bohn put two and two together as she took equipment like cameras, tape recorders and down a photo in the foyer of the house’s EMF (electromagnetic fluctuation) meters, architect. His name was Arthur Klaussen. Machowski’s crew descended on the nearly “No one could have known that,” she 100-year-old building. said. “I go in there expecting a ghost,” said After reviewing all of their evidence, Machowski. “I expect to hear a ghost, see a Machowski was able to come to a conclusion as ghost. You have to expect the most and if you to whether the Peacock Inn was haunted. get nothing, it’s not haunted.” “The spirits that are connected to the A typical session includes a walk house are good,” said Machowski. “They are through of the building, identifying and protecting it. So I wouldn’t say it’s haunted. I examining paranormal hot spots. “You’re would call it a spiritually protected house.” []